Oral Language Activities - The Literacy Connection - Wake County ...

Oral Language Activities
Oral language encompasses expressive and
receptive language.
Ways to support oral language:
• Maintain positive, nurturing relationships with children and engage them
individually in responsive conversations throughout the day.
• Model appropriate grammar and the use of rich vocabulary.
• Use instructional dialogue that fosters thinking about words and
concepts by asking questions.
• Answer children’s questions and provide explanations.
• Provide real experiences that expand children’s vocabulary, such as
field trips in the community and exposure to various tools, objects, and
materials.
• Read a variety of high-quality fiction and nonfiction books daily to
individual children or small groups. Include books that positively reflect
children’s identity, home, language, and culture.
• Give children opportunities to actively participate after story reading by
relating stories to their everyday lives and to answer analytical questions
about stories.
• Provide opportunities for children to discuss stories, hear repeated
readings of stories, retell familiar stories, act out stories, and create their
own stories. (See Multiple Readings of Narrative Book Planning Sheet).
• Encourage communication among children by helping them learn to
take turns listening and talking to one another and use language to
solve problems.
• Respect the culture and language of children who are learning English
as a second language by encouraging families to maintain their home
language while also learning to speak and read English.
Copyright © 2007 The Literacy Connection, Project Enlightenment
Wake County Public School System, Raleigh, North Carolina

Considerations for children with special needs:
• Determine what the individual child needs in terms of modification of
receiving information, processing information, and/or sharing
information.
• Give children opportunities to use augmentative communication aides
and strategies such as symbols, pictures, and communication displays to
provide them with independence in expression.
• Be sure to include enough wait time after asking a question so that
children can make a response back (count to five).
• Respond to children’s actions and communications (for example, by
describe what children did: imitating, acknowledging, restating).
ORAL LANGUAGE RESOURCES
Copyright © 2007 The Literacy Connection, Project Enlightenment
Wake County Public School System, Raleigh, North Carolina